


Two Can Mean Three

by cardinalwrites



Category: SPN, Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Canon verse, Destiel - Freeform, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Hunting, M/M, Near Death, One Shot, Star Wars influence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 10:26:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5740123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cardinalwrites/pseuds/cardinalwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off this prompt - Dean says ‘I love you’ to Cas when he thinks they both are about to die and Cas replies with an ‘I know’. Later after Sam saves them they talk about what happened?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Can Mean Three

“So, this is Star Wars,” Castiel eyed the computer screen Dean had placed in front of him, his other hand filled with a bag of popcorn. They were waiting for a sign that the monster they were hunting had shown his face, so what better to do than wait in the comfort of the dingy motel instead of cramped outside in the woods?

  
“Dude,” Dean slide next to Cas on the couch, hesitantly leaning his knee so that it barely ghosted the angel’s next to him, “I still have no clue how in the hell you haven’t watch these. They’re actual classics.”

  
“Angels don’t have your version of entertainment, Dean, and it most certainty does not include humans wielding swords made of light.”

  
“Sabers, man. They’re light sabers.”  
Castiel eyed Dean skeptically, clearly confused with the entire situation. Dean couldn’t help but stare at the way Castiel’s eyes crinkled inwards while he weighed the situation, jaw clenching as he crunched his teeth. God, this angel was a mess, he chuckled to himself, sending Castiel into a new round of eye crinkles. After a minute of simply staring, some silent conversation going on between them without Dean really catching anything but a brief moment of content, Dean sighed, shook himself out of whatever the hell that was, and pressed play.

  
~

  
“Han Solo loves Leia, but did not say the same words,” Cas didn’t phrase it as a question, more of an observation as the scene played out before them on the computer, Han turning stiff from being frozen.

  
“Yeah, it’s actually a funny story. Harrison Ford ad-libbed that part, but he was supposed to say ‘I love you,’ too.” Dean was half lost in the story. Damn, he wished he were Han Solo, traveling the universe, gun-slinging gangster of the cosmos. He’d never admitted it, but he had gotten borderline crazy invested in all things Star Wars after catching the movie on TV when he was a kid, learning every behind-the-scenes moment, memorizing every weapon, and mimicking Han Solo’s persona whenever he found himself alone. If he didn’t know any better he’d say it was a crush and someday he’d find his own Han, but this was Dean Winchester.

  
“And Leia knew that he meant he loved her?” Castiel was almost comically confused; seriously trying to understand if this was an acceptable response to such a serious declaration. Dean couldn’t help but laugh at the sincerity in Castiel’s tone.

  
“Yeah, Cas. You don’t have to say, ‘I love you’ to know it’s true. They thought they’d never see each other again, so really anything they would have said would mean the same thing. Trust me, they know.”  
Castiel remained silent for the rest of the movie after that, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. For a moment Dean was scared he’d accidentally revealed something he’d been trying to keep hidden for over 7 years now, but there’s no way Cas would connect the dots from a comment like that. Mind made up, Dean let it slide until Sam came in towards the end of the movie.

  
“We got a hit on that wendigo. Time to head out.” He already had his weapons ready to leave the motel quickly. Wendigos are incredibly cunning, after all. Time was of the essence.

  
For the first time in his hunting career, Dean wished he could sit this out and watch the rest of the movie with Cas, just to watch how Cas would react to the end, but duty called.

  
~

  
“No no no no no…”

  
This was not how it was supposed to be.

  
The wendigo had somehow separated them, a rookie mistake especially when they can mimic human speech. Dean cursed at himself. He’d lost sight of the angel that had been in front of him, Cas never having hunted this particular monster before, and now he had to fight to find him again. Sam would be all right, Dean knew. But Cas….

  
He heard the noise again, a high-pitched scream that seemed to last for hours, jarring every cell in his body. It was his own voice, but Dean was not the one making it. He knew that, but Cas definitely didn’t. Dammit! No doubt the monster was trying to draw the angel out. Sure, Cas had his grace back, but that didn’t mean he was 100%. Dammit, dammit, dammit…

  
“Cas! Cas, it’s a trick!” Dean called in vain, his voice drowned out by the wendigo’s fake one. He had to find the angel quick, or else who knew what would happen. Without any other option, Dean had no choice but to run to the sound of his own voice, his face a mix of fear and anger of the hunt going so terribly wrong. How had he let this happen?

  
He’d been running for about 5 minutes when he heard a still screech, completely shattering his ears and his heart. That was Cas, and no way in hell was it the wendigo son of a bitch.

  
Dean sprinted to the source, then adrenaline pumping through his veins spurring him on until he found the dark clearing, two figures in the center. The wendigo was standing above Cas, who was lying on the floor, his angel blade piercing his chest.

  
“CAS!” Dean didn’t care about the monster in that moment, running straight for the angel on the ground. Another rookie mistake. What the hell was wrong with him? The wendigo ran straight for Dean, ready to hack at his ribs, but even in Dean’s blindness, he managed to deflect the first few blows, trying to light the cocktail he had in his hand to end the son of a bitch. He’d been winning for a while until he caught sight of Cas out of the corner of his eye, the other man’s chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. He’d frozen in that moment, not wanting to see Cas in such a bad state. Mistake number three.

  
He felt the claws sink into his skin, but the pain did not come until later, Dean still too preoccupied with trying to get to Cas to notice. He stumbled and fell onto the claws, causing them to hit his ribcage and break a few in the process. Shit.  
Dean tried to raise his hands to light the bitch on fire, but his arms fell uselessly at his sides, the cocktail falling to the ground. This was not how it was supposed to be.  
Then the pain hit, and Dean nearly blacked out from the pressure in his chest alone. No doubt he was bleeding internally, but his senses were too overloaded to register that the monster had retracted it’s claws and he’d fallen right beside Cas, eyes half closed. He registered the small sensation of heat before his gaze found Castiel’s, equally as caked in blood and barely moving, the monster that had been grunting earlier now eerily quiet.

  
“Cas,” Dean croaked out, fear now waking up his limbs. This was it. The last call, bottom of the 9th, the final run; He was about to die, and this time for good. What only made it worse was seeing Cas in the same state.

  
The angel was barely able to move his head to acknowledge that he’d heard Dean. “I thought you were in trouble…” His voice was just above a whisper, but Dean was close enough to hear it. “But… I was… wrong.”

  
Dean felt something wet on his face. Blood? Tears? At this point, he didn’t care. His body was starting to ache, now painfully aware that his own light was going on. He panicked, his mind reeling to every regret he’d had in his life. There weren’t many, but a major one broke through the rest of his thoughts and dominated his mind. This was not how it was supposed to end. “Cas…” his emotions, for the first time in his life, were rising to the surface. Dying would do that to you.   
He could feel it now, the numbness starting to take over. He and Cas were both going to die there and Dean would never get the chance to tell him. This was the end.  
No, he was not going to let this be a regret.

  
Biting his fear and taking what was very well his last breath, he spoke a sentence he’d never thought he’d say. “Cas… I love you.” He gasped, unable to say anything more as he felt the blood rise to his mouth. Barely conscious, Dean swore he’d imagined Castiel chuckle, no matter how pained he was. He felt something, maybe a hand, touch what he thought was his own hand, but at this point he was almost completely gone.

  
“I know,” he swore he imagined a voice say.

  
With that, he blacked out.

  
~

  
Dean heard shuffling somewhere in the darkness that was his eyelids. His entire body stung with a dull ache, temporarily preventing him from moving until he heard Sam’s low whisper.

  
“Dean? Dean! Are you okay?” He felt his shoulder move slightly, sending a shot of pain through his system, jolting him awake. Then he remembered.

  
The older Winchester groaned, every muscle in his body exhausted and stinging. Either he was in Heaven or he’d somehow survived, and Heaven did should not feel this bad.

  
Guessing Dean’s thoughts, Sam responded. “We got you out in time. There was a hospital right next to the woods. You’re alive.”

  
“C-Cas,” his voice was hoarse and barely audible, but he had to know.

  
“He’s okay. He’s here, Dean. Right next to you.”

  
It was then that Dean opened his eyes, blinded by the brightness of the hospital lights. His senses slowly started to return, the smell of antiseptic in the air, the feeling of a needle pressed into the crook of his elbow, bandages covering his torso. It had all been real… He was somehow alive.  
Fighting through the pain, Dean turned to the bed next to him to find blue eyes staring back, Castiel in an equal state of bandages and machines hooked up to him. In that moment, he didn’t feel the pain of his entire body and inhaled sharply. Cas was okay. They’d all made it out alive.

  
“I’m gonna leave you guys alone for a bit. I think you both might want to talk…” Sam’s tone meant he knew something Dean didn’t before he disappeared. Then Dean remembered his last few moments, how the emotions that he had spent his entire life building a wall around had crumpled down, completely bare for Cas to see.

  
In that small moment, Dean panicked again as he held Castiel’s gaze, unsure of how much Castiel remembered or if he’d even heard at all.

  
Castiel remained silent, lost in his own thoughts before he was first to break the silence. “Did Han ever make it out of that prison?”

  
Of all things, Dean was not prepared for Cas to talk Star Wars at this damn moment. It was enough to burst out laughing if he could, so in his present state he settled for an amused cough. “Yeah, Cas. He makes it out and gets the girl in the end.”

  
Castiel nodded, silent for a few more minutes while Dean battled his own thoughts. Why had Cas asked that? So had he heard? Had Dean imagined his response?

  
“Cas,” Dean starts just as the Cas spoke his name in return. Cas continued after Dean said nothing.

  
He made sure to hold Dean’s gaze. “I know you thought you were dying. I did, too. So I know when you said I love you, you did not expect for this conversation to take place after the fact…” Cas trailed off, gauging the hunter’s reaction. Dean was too mortified upon realizing that Cas had indeed heard him say it.

  
“Dean… I know,” he said it pointedly, his voice completely serious as if trying to make Dean see a point.

  
Then it clicked in Dean’s mind. Cas knew. He knew. He didn’t trust his voice to speak, and for once gave in to this human emotions instead of shutting them out. He reached his hand out towards Cas, who attentively held it with caution before grasping it firmly once he realized Dean didn’t feel any pain. In that moment, Dean finally realized that it was 100% completely all right. No, better than all right, because Cas knew.

  
Maybe he’d found his Han after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on tumblr! My main blog is @cardinaleyes and my writing blog is @cardinalwrites :)


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